Very
early in his career, Paul Orndorff won the prestigious North
American Champion twice in 1978, winning and losing to and from
"Big Cat" Ernie Ladd. Later that year, he competed in the
Mid-Atlantic area. In December 1978, Paul teamed with Jimmy Snuka to win
NWA
World Tag Team Titles from Greg Valentine & Baron Von Raschke.
They lost the belts to Baron Von Raschke & Paul Jones, April 28,
1979. Returning to Mid-South for a little while, Orndorff lost to Angelo
Mosca Sr at a Superdome event on July
21, 1979. From there, Orndorff traveled to Alabama. In October of
1979, teamed with Dick Slater to win the Southeastern
Tag Team Titles

In the summer
of 1980, he began a feud with Ken Mantell in Mid-South. Mantell had a
tradition of cutting opponents' hair. He even managed to give Orndorff
an unwanted haircut. Orndorff went on to beat Mantell in a special match
where Orndorff was awarded the right to use the infamous Freebird
Hair-Removal Creme on Mantell's scalp. He continued his success by
defeating Mantell in a rematch at the Mid-South
Superdome Extravaganza August 1980 event. In November, Ernie Ladd
and Leroy Brown injured Paul's brother Terry Orndorff while winning the
Mid-South Tag Team Titles. Big brother Paul sought revenge, but he lost
to Ladd in a "Lights out" match at the Mid-South
Superdome Extravaganza November 1980.

Orndorff later
returned to the Southeast Continental Area. There, he teamed up with Norvell
Austin, who was then calling himself "The Junkyard Dog". They defeated
Dennis Condrey & Randy Rose, the eventual first edition of the Midnight
Express (which would eventually include Austin himself), for the Southeast
Continental Tag Team Titles. Paul
Orndorff came back to Mid-South ... only to oversleep on the day of his
title shot against North American Champion The Grappler. When substitute
Jake Roberts took the belt from The Grappler, Orndorff went berzerk. His
obession with the belt cost him his popularity with the fans. He
demanded a title shot, and beat Jake for his third North American Title at
the Superdome on July 4, 1981.